


Confusion

by Shiori_Makiba



Series: Problem Child [4]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Confusion, Drabble, Gen, Ichigo Is Confused, Mysteries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-14 18:04:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16497563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shiori_Makiba/pseuds/Shiori_Makiba
Summary: Kurosaki Ichigo felt confused. He did not enjoy the feeling.





	Confusion

Kurosaki Ichigo felt confused. He did not enjoy the feeling. He had been confused a lot lately but that did little to endear him to confusion. Ever since a certain closet-stealing midget had entered his life, there had been something weird every day. He had learned more about the spirit world and other weirdness than he ever wanted to know.

Now some might argue that Ichigo had never been an stranger to weird. He could concede that stance might have something of a point. He could see ghosts and other spirits. Had been able to for as long as he could remember. Besides his sisters, he hadn't known anyone else who could **sense** ghosts, let alone **see** them. He had wondered, more than once, if that was because he and his sisters were the only ones in the world who could.

According to Rukia (and his own experiences now), they weren't **that** unique. There were other people out there with second sight. They were rare but they existed. Someone like him, second-sighted and possessing very high spirit energy, was even rarer.

Having encountered Hollows, Ichigo had a pretty good idea about **why** humans with very strong spiritual powers were so rare. Through stuff like the Quincy Massacre probably didn't help matters. Especially if they weren't the only spiritually strong humans to have been similarly eliminated. Rukia didn't outright say so but she did warn him that after she left, it would be a good idea to pretend that he didn't see patrolling Shinigami that weren't her.

He had thought about making a sarcastic remark about how hard that might if they made the same habit she did of walking into his room through the wall but the look in her eyes stopped him. She had been scared. And worried. So he nodded his head and promised to do his best.

Because that was all he could promise. Ghosts could be pretty hard to ignore sometimes. From his limited observations, Shinigami could be equally difficult at times. But maybe it would be easier considering the Shinigami didn't know he could see them whereas pretty much every ghost in Karakura seem to know.

Speaking of Hollows, Ichigo was starting to wonder how he had managed to avoid them until now. Their preferred prey, after surviving members of their family, was humans with enough spiritual power to see or sense them but not enough to fight back. Rukia estimated he hit that plateau years ago. But except for the one that killed his mother and the one that lead to his closet being stolen, he hadn't been attacked by a single Hollow. How? Why?

That point seemed to confuse Rukia too so at least he wasn't alone in his confusion.

Thought at the moment, Ichigo was really confused. He wasn't clear on how he had done it. He had been listening to Rukia's lecture on hell butterflies. They had started arguing. He had gotten angry and frustrated with her condescending tone, reached out with his energies and twisted like she said. Rukia had claimed any attempt would go nowhere since Ichigo's energies weren't registered or something. And he didn't know anyone or any place in the Soul Society to focus a bridge too.

But some connection had snapped into place. He and Rukia fell through the floor. Landed on another floor in a tangled heap of limbs and swearing. Until a deep male voice hesitatingly saying her name made Rukia freeze in shook. An expression of mingled horror and hope emerged as she lifted and turned her head to the left.

Ichigo had followed her eyes. The speaker was a tall man with long white hair, brown eyes, dressed in a black kimono with a white haori. He looked confused but friendly. Friendly was good. After managing to get them dump who knows where (through Rukia seem to recognize the place), friendly was very good. After an awkward silence, Rukia promised that she could explain.

“Let me doing the talking,” she hissed into his ear as they got themselves untangled. Ichigo thought about disregarding that order but the look in Rukia's eyes promised painful retribution if he did. He also decided to keep his mouth shut because Rukia knew who that man was and where they were. He didn't.

There was an even more awkward silence as they stood in front of the man. Rukia looked like she was thinking hard. Until she sighed, straightened her shoulders, and told the man she had given her powers to Ichigo.

The man's reaction really confused Ichigo. The wide-eyed shook wasn't confusing – he had gotten the impression that Shinigami didn't do what Rukia did very often. It was what happened next that confused him. He and Rukia were grabbed, tucked under each of the man's arms, then they were somewhere else. All in a couple blinks of the eye. Over before Ichigo could even **think** about reacting. What in the hell was that?

The man sat them back down on their feet, gestured for them to sit on the cushions in front of the low table. He made tea, set out three cups. He probably would have pour it but Rukia beat him to the punch. Then, with a very serious and somber expression on his face, asked Rukia to explain what had happened in detail.

Which she did. She covered The Incident (as she had taken to calling it) in the greatest detail but hit the highlights about everything that had happened. Ichigo thought about interrupting – especially when she called him an idiot, which was more often than he thought was fair – but every time he opened his mouth, she pinched him hard on the leg. He got the hint and stopped trying to talk but made a silent promise that there would be payback for those pinches.

He also mentally complied a list of questions. He had a lot of them. And she was going to answer them, one way or another. It was late by the time Rukia had stopped talking and the man dismissed them. As soon as he slide the door shut, Ichigo wasted no time.

“Okay, midget, time to explain.”


End file.
